Blackwood Pantry is Opening a Luxe Chicken Shop

With Luchetti Krelle doing the design, it’s going to be schmick.

Rob Lechowicz and Daniel Sorridimi

Published on 11 August 2017

by Nicholas Jordan

The Paddington is about to get a rival in the category of fanciest chicken shop in Sydney. The new contender is Little Bonny’s Rotisserie, a venue from Blackwood Pantry’s Rob Lechowicz, Daniel Sorridimi and Paul Pisani.

As you’d expect from the trio of proud southern Sydneysiders, they’re not bringing their upmarket rotisserie chickens to Surry Hills. They’re bringing it to Menai. “Everyone wants to shoot to the city but no-one realises that most people live outside the inner Sydney. This one is close to home and close to my heart; it’s pretty special to me,” says Lechowicz.

The centre of the new venue will be a large brass rotisserie imported from France. “We wanted to step it up a notch and make [the chicken-shop concept] really premium,” he says. “We’ll be alternating a different protein every day and we will be doing a fish offering as well.” The chickens will come either classically stuffed (with lemon, a heap of herbs, some nuts, onion and garlic) or splayed and glazed with one of three marinades. “One will be a chimichurri glaze but the others haven’t been worked out yet.”
The rest of the venue will be divided between a 45-person dining room with long banquet style tables and a lavish take on the classic glass display counter. “It’s a curved glass display, inside will be stone. The whole counter top will be cast concrete and the [food] inside will be in old-school copper pans,” says Lechowicz.

Luchetti Krelle is behind the look, one of the foremost hospitality design teams in Sydney (Bar Brosé, ACME, The Butler, Single O, Momofuku Seibo, Sake, Mode and more), who are helping the trio turn an old concept into something remarkable. “We really want to make sure it stands out,” Lechowicz says.

Little Bonny’s Rotisserie doesn’t have a specific opening date yet but it’s aiming for a launch before Christmas.